When city service cuts aren't a money problem

In Berkeley, the staffing crisis has led to fire station closures, delayed 911 response times and childcare program cuts

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Happy Finance Friday, readers! It’s not making the headlines anymore but the staffing shortage in local governments is far from over and the repercussions are getting more serious. I’ve written previously about the impact on credit quality and how that costs governments. But there are other consequences of severe understaffing that take a toll on residents’ and workers’ quality of life. And a new report by Berkeley, California, Auditor Jenny Wong outlines just what’s at stake.

Fewer people, fewer services

Declines in municipal services like shortened library hours or fire stations closing are usually associated with budget cuts. Colorado Springs, Colo., during the Great Recession infamously turned off the streetlights to save money rather than raise taxes on residents. 

But Berkeley is suffering through drastic service cuts not because of the budget—but because there just aren’t enough people to do the work. The city of more than 117,000 has one of the highest staff vacancy rates in the San Francisco Bay Area and departments such as public safety and finance are critically understaffed. Over the past five years, the city has lost 216 more employees to retirements and quits than it has been able to hire.

Berkeley’s troubles with retention began before the pandemic. In 2018 and 2019 nearly twice as many people left the city payroll than joined it. But given that new national survey data show most governments expect their biggest wave of retirements is yet to come, Berkeley’s struggles around service delivery may not be an isolated incident.

Credit: MissionSquare Research Institute State and Local Workforce 2023 Survey

Berkeley’s city manager has previously said the staffing shortage has led to, among other things:

• Delays health care such as home visits and assessments;

• Reduced hours at senior center and health connect clinics;

• Major public works projects are at least six months behind schedule;

• Temporary closures of firehouses;

• Extended 911 response times and delayed (and sometimes no) response to qualify-of-life-related calls and unhoused-related calls;

• Drastic cuts in parks and childcare programs for small children.

These delays can not only hinder progress on policy goals such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or improving traffic safety, Wong’s report notes, the staffing shortages “can make the workloads for current employees unmanageable, which can drive down morale and worsen employee retention.”

At a time when trust in government is waning, developments such as these only add fuel to the fire. And in a high-cost-of-living place like Berkeley, some residents have to be wondering exactly what their tax dollars are paying for.

“The Berkeley community deserves high quality services so when you have staffing shortages that impact the delivery of those services, that does have an impact on trust in government,” Wong told me this week. But she added that things are already improving. The HR department, which had a 45% vacancy rate in October, is now almost fully staffed. The new director has also dedicated three employees to clearing up the agency’s data backlog and has expanded recruitment tactics.

“I’m really hopeful because city management has focused more on this since the audit initiated and we are already starting to see positive changes,” Wong said.

Low morale and increased risk costs cities

Even so, rebuilding the city’s staffing levels—and morale—will take years. And in the meantime, the staffing shortage puts Berkeley at a greater financial risk.

Some of the heaviest information in Wong’s audit came from the surveys of current and former city employees.